Underground Rooms Discovered near to Jerusalem’s Second Temple are Stunning Archaeologists

Whether we like to admit it or not, there is still a lot of stuff left to discover here on Earth. Before taking so much into account the idea of traveling to other planets like Mars or moons like those that are surrounding Saturn, who knows what exciting things we could find in our own backyard if we dig a bit, both figuratively and literally speaking.

A team of archaeologists from Israel discovered secretive rooms positioned underground below the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City. The location is near to the Second Jewish Temple that was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans.

The underground rooms are 1,400 years old

After dating the age of the underground rooms, archaeologists are now wondering what could be the purpose of those structures. Barak Monnickendam-Givon, who is co-director of the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, declared:

“At first we were very disappointed because we found we hit the bedrock, meaning that the material culture, the human activity here in Jerusalem ended.

“What we found here was a rock-cut system — three rooms, all hewn in the bedrock of ancient Jerusalem.”

According to Wikipedia, the Second Temple was the Jewish holy temple which was positioned on the Temple Mount from Jerusalem during the Second Temple period that lasted between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon’s Temple (aka the First Temple), which was destroyed in 586 BCE by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Jerusalem was conquered and a part of the population from the Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile to Babylon.

The Second Temple was originally a modest structure built by Jewish exile groups that were returning to the Levant from Babylon under the governor Zerubabbel. The Second Temple was completely refurbished during Herod the Great’s reign, and the main building was completely overhauled into more recognizable large edifices.

Carrie Bronstein helped bring Webby Feed from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. She continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a contributor to Webby Feed, Carrie mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.